


Something Great

by usernicole



Series: Summer Stars [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Buff Keith™, Fluff, Insecure Lance (Voltron), JuLance, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Rain, earth stuff in general
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-04
Packaged: 2019-06-05 09:12:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15167429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/usernicole/pseuds/usernicole
Summary: Lance has a lot of reasons to be happy.





	Something Great

**Author's Note:**

> time is irrelevant, also a flat circle, i march to the beat of my own drum, etc, etc
> 
> here's my 2nd fic for #julance!![here's the prompt list i'm using, credit to them!!](https://twitter.com/lancearchive/status/1013529529174773760)
> 
> title from the song of the same name by one direction :)

Lance has a lot of reasons to be happy, and, as sad as it sounds, this is not a feeling he’s used to anymore. 

Out in space, with enemies at every corner, he’d had to snatch at joy with grasping hands, lucky to find any at all. So now, in the endless expanse of free time Lance has while other, more qualified people rebuild the castleship, Lance likes to take a few moments each day to think about all the reasons he’s feeling happy. He sifts through them, like counting out change for a vending machine, careful in his hands.

There is of course the ever-present sense of relief at being home, at seeing his family. There’s the fresh air that he breathes every morning when he wakes up, throwing open his bedroom window. There’s the knowledge that he not only has all of this, but that his friends do too, that they’re all safe and with their families. 

(Though there is another part of him, and undercurrent of doubt and fear that whispers of wheels and Galra. The fight is long from over, and when the time comes to go back Lance honestly doesn’t know how he’ll manage it.)

On top of the broader, more immediately noticeable reasons for being happy, Lance likes to count the stupid, silly ones as well. He’s almost giddy with the feeling of them. He tallies them up, little mood upgrades that pop up throughout his day. When he’d woken up this morning, a song he loves had been playing on the radio in the kitchen. His mom’s cat--a stranger to him--had made herself comfortable in his lap during breakfast. When Keith had finally made his way downstairs from the guest bedroom, he’d tripped on the last, crooked step for the hundredth time since he’d come to stay with them.

But the thing that had made him the most happy is this: the weather forecast had called for rain.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Lance doesn’t open his eyes to the voice, content to remain where he is, the sun shining orange through his eyelids. “What does it look like I’m doing, Keith?” he asks.

A shadow falls over Lance. “It looks like you’re laying down in the dirt,” Keith says. He nudges at Lance’s side with his foot. “I could see you from the kitchen window. You look like you’re dead.”

Lance laces his fingers together on top of his stomach, finally opening his eyes to look up at Keith. He’s backlit by the sun, a solar eclipse, and rather than the frown Lance had expected him to be wearing he only looks mildly amused. Lance still isn’t quite used to mellow, aged Keith. 

Lance huffs, crossing his arms. “Nope, wrong,” he says. He turns away, looking back up at the sky. “I’m waiting for rain.”

Keith’s mouth twists into a small frown and he leans back, looking up into the blue, blue sky. “Uh,” he says.

“The forecast called for rain.”

“Forecasts can be wrong,” Keith says. Lance shrugs. Keith crosses his arms then, after a long moment, uncrosses them. “So...what? You’re just going to sit around waiting for the rain to come?”

“Yup.”

“Lance, it’s like...really sunny.”

“And?”

Keith sighs, shoving his hands into his pockets. All of his clothes are hand-me-downs from Lance’s older brothers, and he looks like more of a nineties anime hero than usual. 

They don’t say anything for another moment. 

“Well?” Lance says.

“Well what?” Keith says.

“Are you going to join me?”

Keith pretends to think about it, but Lance knows he has nothing better to do. They’ve been wasting the days away watching TV and napping on the beach for a week now.

Keith says, “I guess it is a bit more humid than usual.” and sits down, crossing his legs.

“No shit,” Lance says. He reaches up and tugs at a lock of Keith’s frizzy hair. “You gonna let my mom cut this or what? The feral child look is killing her.”

“Good question. Are you ever gonna actually teach me how to surf?”

“Can’t today,” Lance says. “It’s gonna rain.”

Keith snorts and leans back on his hands, looking up at the sky. “Whatever you say, Lance.”

Lance says, “I like the sound of that.” 

They fall back into silence, with Keith gazing up at the sky and Lance gazing up at Keith.

Looking at Keith nowadays is like playing a spot the difference game in a magazine. Lance can’t stop staring until he’s found all the changes and circled them diligently. The burn scar, check. Terrible mountain man hair, check. Distinctly more chiseled jawline, check. Uh. Those arms. Check.

It’s frustrating, definitely, that Keith has found yet another way of pushing in front of Lance, a rate of improvement and advancement that Lance can’t even imagine following. Lance wants to be a good paladin, a good fighter like Keith. He’s always wanted to be like Keith, loathe as he is to admit it, but at least before they were on the same track. How could Lance possibly match up to two years of Mr. Miyagi zen training with a Galra warrior?

Though that’s not really fair. Lance knows those years meant more than that to Keith.

“How’s your mom?” Lance asks.

Keith shrugs. “Good, I guess,” he says. She says she’s not really ready to come back to Earth yet, so it was a good thing she stayed with the Blade.”

“That’s good, I guess,” Lance says. He bites his lip. “Because of your dad, right?”

Keith winces. “What?”

“She’s not ready to come back because she misses your dad?”

Keith reaches up to rub at his scar, which is something Lance is noticing he does a lot now. “I guess it’s that,” Keith says. “I think she secretly always wanted to come back, and now there isn’t really...a reason to.”

“Hey,” Lance says, poking at Keith’s knee. “That’s not true. You’re here.”

Keith rolls his eyes. “Yeah, but like. Not  _ forever _ .”

Lance’s mouth twists unhappily, and he looks back up at the sky. “She can still come see you. We’re going to be here for a long time. Not even Coran can swing building an entire ship in a month.”

“You haven’t seen him,” Keith says. “He’s driving everyone insane over there with his specifications. He’s got all the Garrison engineers terrified.”

Lance shrugs, sulking. He doesn’t like to think about leaving when it seems like they only just got back. Keith seems to realize that something is wrong then, frowning down at Lance. Lance refuses to look at him, shielding his eyes from the sun with one hand. 

“But you’re right,” Keith says, backtracking quickly. “It’s still going to take them a while. We might as well make ourselves comfortable.”

“I guess.”

“At least long enough for you to finally teach me how to surf.”

Lance huffs out a laugh. “I told you, we can’t today--"

“I know, I know,” Keith sighs. “Because of the rain. What’s your excuse for all the other days?”

“I’m trying to enjoy my vacation. What do you want from me?”

“For you to teach me how to surf. Surfing is enjoyable.”

Lance turns his head to glare up at him, still covering his eyes with his hand. “I’m sure if you asked Marco or Luis would be perfectly happy to teach you how to surf.”

“But I don’t  _ want _ Marco or Luis to teach me. I want  _ you _ to teach me.” He pokes at Lance’s side as he says “you,” and Lance flinches away, ticklish.

“Why is it so important that I teach you?” Lance asks, poking Keith back hard in the stomach. His abs are hard like a rock is hard.

Keith catches Lance’s finger in one hand and refuses to let it go, poking Lance  in the side over and over while Lance struggles. “Because you’re the best one. You have like, a million trophies in your room.”

“It’s been a long time.”

“I doubt you’ve forgotten.” Keith lets go of Lance’s hand, propping both elbows on his legs and dropping his chin on his hands. “Come  _ on _ , Lance. Teach me how to surf.”

Lance groans, rubbing the palms of his hands over his eyes. “You really suck at relaxing,” he says.

“How does someone suck at relaxing?” 

Lance gestures at him. “Like that! You’re always all...active. You need to wind down, man. Take a load off. Wait for rain.”

Keith groans. “Fine,” he says. “Today, we’ll wait for rain. Tomorrow, you’ll teach me how to surf.”

“I  _ guess _ ,” Lance sighs. “But we’re actually doing this. We’re on vacation. We’re relaxing.” He places his hands behind his head to emphasize his point.

“Sure, whatever,” Keith says. “This isn’t boring at all.”

“Well, you’re doing it wrong.”

“ _ How? _ ” Keith whines, and Lance sighs exaggeratedly. He reaches up to grab at Keith’s upper arm, tugging him down. Keith doesn’t move. 

“What are you doing?” Keith asks.

“Jesus,” Lance mutters. “Like a tree trunk. Lay  _ down _ , asshole.”

Keith sighs, but does as he’s told. Laying down, he seems a lot closer than he had been sitting, and Lance feels warm all along his side. He can feel his face warm up as well, their proximity overwhelming, and he’s lucky that Keith is too busy looking up to notice. Lance looks away and back up at the sky. 

They’re silent for a while, long enough that Lance is considering a nap, before Keith breaks the silence. 

“This sucks,” he says.

“You suck,” Lance says. “Isn’t this like, your thing now? Didn’t you sleep on the ground for like five years?”

“Yeah, and that’s how I know it sucks.” Lance hears rustling, and when he turns to look Keith is laying on his side, facing Lance. Keith winces, his face twisting in a scowl. “It fucking killed my back.”

Lance snorts, then moves his hand to cover his mouth and muffle his laughter. “Dude,” he says. “You sounded so old just then.”

“Shut up, I did not.”

“You did.” Lance moves onto his side so they’re facing each other. “You so did.” He wrinkles his nose and begins speaking in an accent that only sounds a little like Coran. “ _ You whippersnappers just don’t understand real struggle! I slept on a bed full of rocks and ate canned worms for forty years!” _

Keith laughs, shaking his head. “You’re so stupid. I didn’t sound like that.”

“You did,” Lance says. “You’re turning into Shiro.”

Keith rolls his eyes. “I’m not as bad as Shiro,” he says. “You’d think Shiro was sixty-six, not twenty-six.”

“Aw, Shiro,” Lance says. “I hope  _ that _ dude is at least getting some rest.”

“He is,” Keith says. “His mom is feeding him a five course meal every night.”

“So about half of what my mom is giving us?” 

“Probably less than half,” Keith says, and he’s smiling fondly. Keith and his mom getting along so well wasn’t something Lance neither expected nor prepared himself mentally for. It’s painfully endearing. 

Keith adjusts his position, pulling one arm up and under his head, propping himself up to look at Lance from above. “So,” he starts. “Why are you being so weird about teaching me how to surf?”

Lance groans. “Are you going to talk about this all day?”

“Yes,” Keith says firmly. “I want to know why.”

Lance glowers at him, but Keith doesn’t back down, because he never backs down. Lance both admires and resents him for it. 

The two of them have come a long way, and in a way Lance is proud of that. He’s grown to the point where their interactions aren’t controlled by Lance’s jealousy. They can hang out and not fight at all, and there are times where Lance forgets that he ever felt inferior to Keith. Keith treats him like an equal.

He always has, really. It’s just taken Lance a while to notice. He  _ likes _ being friends with Keith. He likes messing around and talking shit. They work well together, and Keith has come to be one of the people Lance trusts the most. And yeah, Lance is self-aware enough to admit h has a bit of a crush as well. Can anyone blame him?

All of these things are true, and yet there are times like right now where Lance still feels insecurity creeping up his spine. Lance pulls his hands up and covers his face, taking a moment to let himself feel ashamed. Then, he takes a deep breath and peeks through his fingers.

Keith looks at him expectantly, and something in Lance snaps. 

“Look,” he says, pleading. “Can you just let me have one thing?”   
  


Keith blinks. “What?”

“Just like, one thing,” Lance continues. “Just one thing for me to be the best at.”

“I have no idea what you’re saying,” Keith says.

“Just!” Lance waves his arms a bit. “I know that I’m going to take you to the beach, and you’re going to get on a board and just--” He claps, and Keith jumps. “Bam! You’re going to be amazing. And I haven’t surfed in like...three years, at least. I’m going to be falling on my ass every five seconds. And you’re going to be like,  _ ‘Oh, did I not tell you? Being half-Galra means I have super-duper magic balancing skills.’  _ And then a crowd of people will come and put you on their shoulders and parade you through town.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Keith says, looking confused. “And I don’t. Have super-duper magic balance, I mean.”

Lance holds out a hand. “One,” he says. “Don’t ever say super-duper in front of me ever again. It’s weird. Two.” Lance looks down, suddenly incapable of looking Keith in the face while he says this. 

“Keith,” he starts. “Buddy. I know we’re like, good now. Best buds, or whatever. And I’ve definitely become a lot more chill over the years, but there’s only so much time I can spend being second best.”

Lance pauses, swallowing. “Or, you know, third best. Or seventh. Whatever.”

When Lance looks back up at Keith, Keith looks as though he’s about to explode with questions. He almost looks offended. His brows are furrowed, and he’s opening and closing his mouth like he doesn’t know where to start. 

“First of all,” Keith says, after a long pause. “I thought we’d stopped this thing where everything we do is a competition.” He sounds hurt, and Lance instantly feels guilty.

“No,” Lance starts. “That’s not--”

Keith bulldozes over him. “And I don’t know where you got this idea that you’re not good at anything, or you’re not...as good as I am?” He sits up, and Lance scrambles to follow. “You’re better than me at...at  _ so _ many things!”

“Name one,” Lance says, before he can help himself. 

“Shooting!” Keith cries. “Strategy!” He gestures wildly at Lance. “Just like...talking to people in general! Did any of this change? Was I gone longer than I thought I was?”

“Keith--”

“You’re great, Lance.” Keith soldiers on. “You’re...you’re smart, and capable. You help everyone. You’ve been there for  _ every single member _ of the team when they needed you.”

When he turns to face Lance, his eyes are wide and sincere, and Lance wants to think that this strange, open Keith is the product of his two year vision journey, but Lance has seen him before. He’s seen this Keith back on the castle, telling him to “leave the math to Pidge.”

Keith exhales, leaning forward and running his hands through his hair. He looks back over at Lance, eyes pained. “I just...I don’t like hearing you talk about yourself like that,” Keith says. He makes an aborted move, hands reaching forward like he wants to touch Lance, to grab his hand, maybe. Lance silently wishes he would. 

“I didn’t ask you to teach me because...because I wanted to  _ beat you _ , or anything,” Keith continues. “I asked because...because I  _ saw _ it, and--”

“What?” Lance asks. “What do you mean? Saw what?”

Keith goes red at that, and Lance tilts his head questioningly. “I, uh,” Keith starts. “I...You know the uh, Quantum Abyss.”

“I know of it,” Lance says.

“Right,” Keith says. He looks down, letting his bangs fall over his face, and then he smashes them down even further. “Right, uh. So it shows you these...flashbacks right? Only some of them are like, flash forwards, because they show the future, and--”

“Whoa, dude!” Lance says, leaning forward eagerly. “You saw the future?”

“Yeah,” Keith says. “And I just...Ugh, god. I saw us surfing, okay? And, like, you were really good at it, and you looked like...like you were having fun. And so did I? And I just.” He makes a sort of pained, aborted noise, and then when he reaches out he actually takes Lance’s hand, holding it between both of his. “I missed you, okay?”

An egg could probably be fried on Lance’s face. He wonders distantly if he’s overheating, sitting so long in the sun.

“Uh,” Lance says. “Really?”

“Really,” Keith says. He makes a solid attempt at a smile. “I did, Lance. I just...I want to spend time with you. I like it. I want what I saw to come true.”

Lance says, “Oh.” He looks down at their entwined hands. He feels like a fucking idiot.

“I’m a fucking idiot,” he says. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why--”

Keith frowns. “I thought I said to stop talking about yourself badly.”

“I can if it’s true,” Lance argues. “I just...I don’t know why I felt so weird about it.  I want to spend time with you, too. Of course we can go surfing, dude. We’ll go as soon as possible.”

Keith starts to pull away, and he’s blushing again. “I don’t want you to feel like...like you _ have _ to or anything--”

“No, no!” Lance says, pushing forward to close the space again. He overestimates the distance, and ends up with his face inches from Keith’s. “I, uh,” he says, gulping. “I want to.”

Keith exhales, relieved. His grip on Lance’s hand tightens. “Okay,” he says. “Okay...Thanks.” 

This close, Lance is surprised to find he’s not very preoccupied with the things he usually worries about when this close to another person’s face. He’s not thinking about his pores, or any eye bags he might have. Lance isn’t anything but entranced, drawn in by Keith’s dark eyes, his open mouth. 

Lance doesn’t realize he’s moving closer until he feels Keith’s breath on his face, his eyes going half-lidded without his permission. Keith’s eyes seem impossibly wide, and only become wider as they dart down to look at Lance’s mouth.

Then, a drop of water lands on Keith’s nose, and Keith makes a twisted, surprised face that’s fucking  _ hilarious _ .

Lance leans away, throwing his head back and laughing. Keith makes a kind of squawking noise, and Lance laughs even harder.

“Don’t laugh, asshole!” Keith says, but Lance can hear laughter in his voice. “Pay attention!”

And that’s when Lance feels a drop on his face, and opens his eyes. 

At some point, while they had been talking, the blue sky had been overtaken by heavy, gray clouds. Another drop lands on his forehead, and then on his cheek, and Lance’s smile widens.

“What did I tell you?” he cries, pumping his fists in the air. “ _ Rain! _ Real, honest to god, Earth rain. It’s  _ raining,  _ Keith!”   
  


“Sprinkling, more like,” Keith says, but when Lance looks back at him he’s grinning. “But I guess your waiting paid off.”

“You’re about to eat your words, samurai,” Lance says. He falls backwards to lay on the ground, arms spread wide. “You don’t know rain. Give it a--”

He’s interrupted by a frighteningly loud clap of thunder, and the sky opens up, drenching them instantly.

“Holy  _ shit _ ,” Keith says, raising his arms over his head in an attempt to shield himself. Lance doesn’t do anything like that. He lays back and closes his eyes, tilting his face up to the rain. 

The cold of it is almost punishing, but there’s something about it that feels clean. Lance breathes in the cool air, taking in the familiar smell. The dirt around him is rapidly becoming mud. He loves it.

“ _ Jesus _ , Lance,” Keith calls loudly over the sound. “You’re going to fucking...drown. Like a turkey. It was  _ sunny _ half an hour ago!”

Lance opens his eyes and turns to look at Keith, blinking away the water. Keith’s hair is even stringier, falling forward heavily. Lance watches as he pushes it away from his face, only for it to flop forward again. Lance can’t bring himself to stop smiling, sitting up and reaching forward to push it back again.

With his hair out of his eyes, Keith looks somehow younger, despite the droplets sliding down the sharp cut of his jaw. His smile crinkles his eyes slightly, and Lance grins back helplessly. 

“We’re going to catch pneumonia and die,” Keith says.

“Coward,” Lance says.

Keith laughs, and Lance finds himself drawn forward again, pulled into Keith’s orbit. He’s not sure if it’s the cold creeping along his skin that pushes him closer to Keith, or the look in Keith’s eyes.

“Tell me,” Lance says, one hand still holding Keith’s hair from his face, fingers tangled in his dark hair. “What else did you see, in the Quantum Abyss? Anything interesting?”

Keith shrugs, eyes shining. Lance follows the path of a drop of rain as it trails down Keith’s face and onto his neck. “Maybe,” Keith says.

“Anything like this?” Lance asks.

Keith presses his lips together, fighting his smile. “Nope,” he says.

“Good,” Lance says. “It’s better this way, I think.”

Keith nods, and Lance runs his fingers the rest of the way through Keith’s hair, hand cupping the back of his head. The rain doesn’t seem to show any sign of easing up. 

“Now,” Lance says, pushing forward onto his knees, pressing up against Keith’s chest. For the moment, he’s taller than Keith, something he hasn’t experienced in a while. Keith stares up at him with an expression Lance can’t read very well, but thinks is something almost like wonder. Lance moves closer still, setting his other hand on Keith’s shoulder. He feels almost too warm, after the chill of sitting in the rain. 

Lance leans down, close to Keith’s ear, so he can speak without yelling over the rain and thunder. He breathes against Keith’s ear, and relishes the full body shiver it incites. He says, “First one back inside gets the first shower.”

He’s nearly to the door when Keith registers what he’d said, crying out in protest, and Lance turns back. He’s been smiling so wide for so long that his cheeks are starting to hurt. 

He has a lot of reasons to be happy. 

**Author's Note:**

> also listen...the dog is there...that big ol' space wolf. they were inside being spoiled by lance's mom the whole time believe me
> 
> as always, u can find me on [tumblr!!](http://wizzardblizzard.tumblr.com/) it'd be cool if u could [reblog it from there](http://wizzardblizzard.tumblr.com/post/175550742265/something-great-usernicole-voltron-legendary), if u want. 
> 
> sorry about the t rating but i can't help but #LetTeamVoltronSayFuck


End file.
